The good, the bad, and the ugly of endurance training, competing and using physical activities to create quality memories with my family and friends.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Last long run, last long run, last long run.

Saturday morning, I woke up around 6am to start my long run morning routine. The great thing was, my foot felt about 75%. That was wayyy more than the 30% it was feeling a few days earlier. I filled up on pasta from the North End on Friday night and was feeling pretty healthy. The weather was back down in the 20's though, so I had to pull out my gloves and hat. Yuck. I had my standard bagel, peanut butter and banana with a side of coffee.

By about 7:30a, Angela and I arrived at BC to start the 20 miler with the Dana Farber team. We found a group of women that we typically run with and headed out. Within the first mile out on the course, there is a ridicilously steep hill. At the top, there was a TV camera, of course I start waving. Who wouldn't? (I later find out that EVERYONE else looks away from the camera and kept running... thank you Channel 7 news).

After some small talk, Angela points out that we're running way too fast. For some reason it felt slow to me, she pointed out that it could have been the "lines" I did before the run. JK. We were feeling good, heading down heartbreak hill is actually pretty fun. Thank goodness that we have team water stops every 2-2.5 miles. After running through multiple cities (Chesnut Hill, Newton, Wellesley) we eventually come to the 10 mile turn around. By this point, my foot had loosened up and I couldn't really feel it. I will attribute that to the numbing cold weather too.

Times like that, you start to dig deep. We started sharing the stories of our friends and family who battled or are battling cancer. I told my story to Pam, a woman that I've run with before. I got pretty emotional but was certain that talking about RJ would help not only my motivation, but the others around me listening to the fight that RJ put up.

10 more miles later, we were back at BC. We conquered that 20 miler - all the time thinking "last long run, last long run." Well, until the marathon.